Thanks for the reply. Hard shell is used when I am looking to check a bag (which I hate doing) when traveling to a place like Reims where I will grab a couple bottles of bubbly to bring home. I've had better luck with a hard shell than with a soft side for this purpsoe. And as noted, the bag is wonderful and absent the cracked shell, it would still be a go to bag. Nice quality, cracked shell.

I don't have the bag anymore to do something fun with it. I checked with the local repair shops, hoping for a lower tier repair, and all stated that a cracked shell required sending the bag back to B&R. Called B&R and was told to ship it in. That being said, it was a prepaid shipping label and not really all that expensive.

I will push back and see what happens

Has any had luck with B&R twitter or other social media (I assume B&R has a presence somewhere(?))

Cheers